Ladyjack Spends Summer on Italian Tour
9/26/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 26, 2002
Marlo Nordt is a native of the Woodlands, Texas and is a 5-9 setter for the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack volleyball team. Throughout her two seasons, Nordt has displayed both academic and athletic achievements. While in high school, she managed to receive and become almost everything possible as a student-athlete in the game of volleyball. She was an all-state selection, a TGCA all-star, team captain, an All-American Scholar, graduated fourth in her class and the list goes on. With all of the hard work that Nordt displays in life, it was no surprise that she had the opportunity of playing international volleyball.
SFA head volleyball coach Debbie Humphreys informed all of her players about the 2002 Sibillini Volleyball Tournament in the Sibillini Mountains of Italy. Nordt was the one who wanted this chance.
"I e-mailed the guy and told him that 'I definitely wanted to go,'" Nordt said. "So we e-mailed back and forth and he told me that he still had one setter spot that was open, he asked me if I wanted it and I told him that I did. And that is how I got to go."
There were six teams that participated in the tournament, two of which came from the United States. Third Degree, Nordt's team, consisted of college players from across the US, from schools such as Texas Tech, Utah, Colorado State, Central Florida, North Carolina and Marquette. The four other teams came from Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Yugoslavia, which gave Nordt the opportunity to play against other players from around the world.
"It was just a fantastic experience playing against other girls in an international setting," said Nordt. "I think we all learned to play the game without trying to argue with the referees because they didn't understand our language, and that really teaches you to focus. I really learned to just play one point at a time."
Most places didn't use scoreboards, so Nordt and her teammates had to concentrate more on each individual point.
"A lot of times there was no scoreboard and the scores we're being announced in Italian, so we were never quite sure what the score was, so we just focused on winning each individual point. We definitely learned to play each game one point at a time."
Nordt said it wasn't hard adapting to the international rules for volleyball since the college game was starting to incorporate more of the international game.
"They pretty much went along with the international rules, which the NCAA is moving more toward this season with the addition of the libero. Since we got to utilize the libero during the spring that was not a new look. It might have been if the NCAA hadn't gone to it. International rules plays to 25 (the collegiate game plays to 30), which was a little bit different than college. There was a little difference in the serving over there as well. We won't see it much here in the Southland Conference but over there they did more serves that were a jump-floater serve combination. Their defense was pretty spectacular too. There were times we would hit the ball thinking there was no way they could get to it and they would wind up popping it up."
Nordt will always cherish the experience she had playing overseas. The trip to Italy allowed her the opportunity to gain more experience at the libero position that will only add to her depth as a player.
"I actually got to play the libero for several matches," said Nordt. "It was fun to challenge the hitters, to have them hit it at me and see if I could dig it up. It is a really fun position to play. It is a completely defensive-oriented position. Any ball that is on my court I'm going to go out and try my hardest to go out there and dig it up."
